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How to remove everything after a character in Excel and Google Sheets
Topic:Text manipulationExcel & Google Sheets
=LEFT(A2,FIND("@",A2)-1)✓
Verified example
Computed by a real spreadsheet engine on the sample data below.
| alice@example.com |
| bob@company.org |
| carol@domain.net |
| david@mail.co |
=LEFT(A2,FIND("@",A2)-1)→alice
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Step by step
- 1Excel 365 / recent Excel: =TEXTBEFORE(A2,"@") returns everything before the @ — done. Add a fallback for cells without the delimiter: =TEXTBEFORE(A2,"@",,,,A2).
- 2Any Excel version and Google Sheets: =LEFT(A2,FIND("@",A2)-1) — FIND locates the delimiter, and LEFT keeps the characters before it (the -1 excludes the delimiter itself).
- 3Guard against cells with no delimiter (FIND returns #VALUE! there): =IFERROR(LEFT(A2,FIND("@",A2)-1),A2) returns the original text unchanged.
- 4Google Sheets alternative: =INDEX(SPLIT(A2,"@"),1) splits on the delimiter and keeps the first piece.
- 5No-formula route: select the column, open Find & Replace, search for @* (the delimiter followed by an asterisk wildcard) and replace with nothing — this edits the cells in place.
Tips
- To cut at the LAST occurrence when the delimiter repeats (e.g. keep "a.b" from "a.b.c"), use =LEFT(A2,FIND("~",SUBSTITUTE(A2,".","~",LEN(A2)-LEN(SUBSTITUTE(A2,".",""))))-1) — SUBSTITUTE’s fourth argument targets the final occurrence. In Excel 365, TEXTBEFORE(A2,".",-1) does the same in one call.
- FIND is case-sensitive; swap in SEARCH when the delimiter is a letter and case should not matter.
- To remove everything BEFORE the character instead, use MID: =MID(A2,FIND("@",A2)+1,LEN(A2)) — or TEXTAFTER(A2,"@") in Excel 365.
- Trim stray spaces left behind by the split with TRIM: =TRIM(LEFT(A2,FIND(",",A2)-1)).
- Cut at the Nth occurrence with TEXTBEFORE’s second argument: =TEXTBEFORE(A2,"-",2) keeps the text before the second dash.
- The Find & Replace @* trick is destructive — run it on a copy of the column if you need the originals.
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Frequently asked
What happens when the character is missing from a cell?
FIND returns #VALUE! and the formula errors. Wrap it: =IFERROR(LEFT(A2,FIND("@",A2)-1),A2) keeps the original text for those cells. TEXTBEFORE accepts a fallback directly as its sixth argument.
How do I remove text after the LAST occurrence of a repeated character?
Excel 365: =TEXTBEFORE(A2,".",-1) — the -1 means "count from the end". Otherwise use the SUBSTITUTE trick that swaps the last occurrence for a sentinel character and FINDs that.
Is there a way without formulas?
Yes — Find & Replace with a wildcard. Search for @* and replace with nothing: every cell is truncated at the @ in place. Works in both Excel and Google Sheets.
Is FIND case-sensitive?
Yes. FIND("x",…) will not locate "X". Use SEARCH for case-insensitive matching — the rest of the formula stays identical.
How is this different in Google Sheets?
LEFT + FIND works unchanged. Sheets also offers =INDEX(SPLIT(A2,"@"),1), but note SPLIT treats EACH character of the delimiter string as a separate delimiter — fine for single characters, surprising for multi-character delimiters.
More on Text manipulation
See all →How-to
How to get text after a character or delimiter
Extract everything after the first delimiter with MID and FIND, including multi-character delimiters and explicit missing-delimiter handling.
How-toHow to split text into columns
Split a full name or any delimited text into separate columns. Google Sheets uses SPLIT; Excel uses TEXTSPLIT — here is each.
How-toHow to remove extra spaces
Clean leading, trailing, and double spaces with TRIM — the usual fix for lookups that fail on values that look identical.
How-toHow to convert text to a number
Turn numbers stored as text into real numbers with VALUE or by multiplying by 1 — the fix for sums that ignore values.
How-toHow to extract the domain from an email address
Pull everything after the @ from an email using FIND and MID. Works the same in Excel and Google Sheets.
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Get the first name from a full name with LEFT and FIND, splitting on the first space. Works in Excel and Google Sheets.